Born A Slave, Bred A Soldier

They grew up, fell in love -- and kept working in their master's fields.

Tiny rays of Virginia's radiant sun filter through the thick branches of the walnut trees towering above a two-story farmhouse in James City County.

FOR THE RECORD - Published correction ran Tuesday, August 1, 2006.On the front page from July 23 to July 30, the series "A Man of Honor" about a James City County slave who won the Medal of Honor reported that 16 black men earned the award during the Civil War. That information came from the National Archives and the National Park Service. A review of additional sources turned up a variety of numbers, ranging from 16 to 24.

Birds chirp in the distance.

Tall, mature crops dance in a light breeze, brushing against each other, singing swish, swish, swish with their leaves. Months earlier, the plant's seeds had been placed in perfectly straight rows.

Today, the plow lines cover only about 10 acres -- or as far as the nearby golf course.

One hundred seventy-one years ago, though, the rolling farm fields reached to the horizon.

Not far from the farmhouse was a cluster of small shacks, and on Feb. 8, 1835, the pained cries of Hannah -- a slave woman -- filtered through their walls, soon to be replaced by the innocent wails of a newborn boy.

Hannah would name the boy, who inherited the fair skin of his white father and a life of bondage from his mother, Edward Ratcliff.

THE FIRST SLAVES

In 1657, an Englishman named John Hankins received a 200-acre land grant in the New World, in the colony of Virginia. His land was near the southern end of the Chesapeake Bay, along the York River.

Hankins moved there, started a family and learned to farm.

Many of the new landowners in the region grew indigo, rice and tobacco.

The crops were profitable, but they drained nutrients from the soil and their production was labor-intensive.

Many of the Europeans were caught in a self-inflicted predicament: They wanted land, but they didn't want to work on it. Besides, the work soon became too much for one family to do.

Great Britain sent convicted criminals over for landowners to employ in the fields. Still, there weren't enough hands, and indentured servants -- people who worked to pay off their passage to America -- were still too costly. The labor crisis would pave the way for the formal system of slavery, which was more economical and eliminated concerns about employee turnover.

Black men and women were soon stolen and imported from the West Indies, then from Africa.

John's son Charles became the first Hankins to pay taxes on slaves.

In 1704, he owned the family's 10 slaves and 370 acres of land.

Charles had seven children, including a son, whom he named after himself.

This Charles and his bride, Druisilla, would have four children. Nathaniel, their youngest, was born Feb. 13, 1767.

It would be in Nathaniel's lifetime that Southern farmers would set themselves apart from Northerners.

Northerners had begun to use slaves less frequently.

Freedom had been the very premise for which the Revolutionary War was fought. How could they keep others in bondage?

The need for slaves in the North had also diminished as people there began to rely more heavily on machinery.

Better machinery in the North increased the demand for Southern-grown cotton, which further increased the demand for cheap labor.

Shortly before 1800, Nathaniel started his own family. He married a woman named Betsy and soon after was given the family's plantation, 13 cattle and one dozen slaves.

More so than his ancestors, Nathaniel made quick economic progress. About 1813, he purchased a two-wheeled carriage, a luxury item at the time.

He added to the family's land and saw the number of slaves increase to 18.

The increase might have come through reproduction. There was a high death rate among slaves, and landowners encouraged their slaves to procreate. Some masters promised freedom to women if they had 15 or more children.

Or Nathaniel Hankins' new slaves might have been purchased: During the mid-19th century, slave auctions were common in James City.

The county held court on the second Monday of each month. On those days, landowners and their families would flock to town "to sell their farm-grown produce, purchase items and auction off slaves, livestock and land," a local historian, Martha McCartney, wrote in her book "James City County: Keystone of the Commonwealth."

At auctions, McCartney wrote, "dark-skinned slaves were the most highly prized."

"A good carpenter might go for $400, and a good cook or seamstress for even more. A healthy woman would bring $175 to $200, whereas little children under the age of 8 would sell for $60 to $80."

The men, women and children being sold were often torn from their families.

"When your child dies, you know where it is," one slave said. "But when it is sold away, you never know what may happen to him."

AN INHERITANCE

In 1813, Nathaniel and Betsy Hankins had a son, Alexander, who by 1837 was a slave owner himself. He inherited the 400-plus-acre farm and all its properties -- including a 2-year-old slave named Edward Ratcliff.

It's hard to determine what kind of owner Alexander became. Some masters controlled their slaves with beatings and violence. Others were more humane. They gave slaves incentives, like money and better jobs, to keep them from running away.